


Flame In Her Heart

by Merit



Category: Uprooted - Naomi Novik
Genre: Angst, F/F, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-21
Updated: 2015-06-21
Packaged: 2018-04-05 10:48:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4177014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merit/pseuds/Merit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was supposed to be told to a girl, by her mother, on her wedding night. This wasn't the only thing the Dragon had ruined.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flame In Her Heart

Agnieszka was still flushed red and she couldn’t keep her hands _still_ , when Kasia came out of her family’s home. It must have been her stupid hands making a racket because Kasia paused, a frown on her face, her feet pointed in the direction of her mother’s home, but she looked back and she saw Agnieszka. They stared at each for a long moment, Agnieszka growing redder and redder before Kasia slumped, shoulders bending as if there was a mountain resting there, and walked over to her.

“Oh Nieshka,” she said and she didn’t sound sad but sorry. There was weariness in her face, far beyond her years and Agnieszka tore her eyes away, feeling hot tears swell up in her eyes. She didn’t let them fall, too ashamed, because she wasn’t the one in danger. Kasia settled next to her, brave and beautiful Kasia and hummed a slightly off key tune that they had heard a summer or two ago from a visiting troubadour. He had been handsome, despite a scar on chin and Agnieszka remembered all the mothers keeping a sharp eye on all the young, unmarried girls. But who would want to be carried away? She had wondered at the time. But maybe they had been thinking of _ruining_.

She blushed scarlet again, thinking of her mother’s honest and matter of fact way of revealing what should have been told by Kasia’s mother and only before her wedding night. It shouldn’t have been told at day time, with the sun at full force, stripped of ritual and a mother’s warm touch.

“It’s not so bad,” Kasia said, running her hand down Agnieszka’s arm soothingly. “It wasn’t such a surprise, not really,” she said, her tone turned musing. Agnieszka looked up at her sharply. Kasia looked down and laughed. “Borys is the best horse breeder in the valley and it isn’t like any of the other breeders keep what they do a secret.”

“It’s different between a man and a woman,” Agnieszka insisted. “The priest says it is a sacred bond, blessed by God himself. The act is for the purpose of having children.”

“And the priest has never married, has he?” Kasia said and for a moment Agnieszka was shocked, because people just didn’t question the priest, at least not when the sun was streaming through the leaves, dappling the skin and a person wasn’t deep into his cups. But then, she considered, Kasia was right. It wasn’t like the priest had ever had a wedding night. For a moment she wondered if the priest even _knew_. But of course it was different for boys.

“Yes,” Agnieszka said, looking into Kasia’s eyes. “And I suppose our mothers wouldn’t be so afraid of us ruining ourselves if the act wasn’t fun.”

“For men maybe,” Kasia said darkly, and Agnieszka didn’t have to look up to feel the Dragon’s tower loom over their heads. She shuddered and placed a hand on Kasia’s thigh. She was trembling slightly, Agnieszka realised with horror.

“No!” She protested, “I’m sure some women enjoy it. Why else would they go off to the city and sell, uh,” she gestured to her body, feeling that no one would ever want her. “And you’ve heard Adelajda telling stories. She always seems to... have fun.” They both sat in silence, mulling over some of the stories they had heard, about men with very big breeches, before they had been herded away, the women giggling and the men laughing.

“Maybe,” Kasia said, “But those are just stories. There won’t be a husband for me. They’ll be the Dragon.” And I’ll be ruined after that, was said unspoken, though it was all Agnieszka had heard about the girls the Dragon had chosen. Men would have married them, but only for their dowry. Maybe that was why none of the previous girls the Dragon had chosen had stayed. But even then, Agnieszka couldn’t imagine leaving the valley. It was _home_.

“You can, you can have others,” Agnieszka murmured, surprised even by her own audacity. Kasia looked at her carefully, her brown eyes shaded under the trees. Agnieszka had known Kasia since they had been in the cradle but she couldn’t imagine what she was thinking. “You don’t,” she said, biting her lip, “There’s no rule against it. The Dragon has never asked for a virgin.”

“An unmarried girl of seventeen,” Kasia recited, “Everyone else in the valley would expect it,” but there was an edge to her voice. Then she sighed. “I don’t care for any of the boys in the village,” she said, and Agnieszka couldn’t help but agree. Agnieszka had seen them watching Kasia sometimes and it had sent shivers down her spine. They never said anything to Kasia, since all believed she was Dragon marked. They never seemed to have much time for Agnieszka but eventually they might. She didn’t care for the idea.

Kasia had stopped trembling some time during their conversation. She stared at Agnieszka, her brown eyes lit up like the world was burning behind them, then abruptly she looked away. She jerked away from Agnieszka and for a moment Agnieszka’s hand was floating in the air and she missed Kasia’s warm leg underneath her hand. Then she pulled away, feeling the distance growing between them. The Dragon’s tower loomed, even under the mountains.

Soon Kasia would be living in the Dragon’s tower, being made to do... who knows. The girls who had previously gone all said he never touched them and they had all been pretty. She had heard men muttering they would be unable to stop themselves, locked away there, with no wives for company. But no one really talked about what happened there and when the girls were released, they hardly said a word about their time there and within a week or a month they had usually left. There was no one in the village that Kasia could truly ask.

“We can,” Agnieszka said and stopped. She fidgeted under Kasia’s gaze. She couldn’t say it, Agnieszka realised. Instead she stared at Kasia, the setting sun catching her golden hair and setting it ablaze. Everyone had always known it was going to be beautiful and brave Kasia, how could it not? So she leaned forward, not daring to meet Kasia’s eyes and pressed a small kiss near her mouth. Kasia gasped and Agnieszka had a thousand apologies ready to fly out of her lips.

“No,” Kasia said calmly. And she kissed Agnieszka on the lips, her lips warm and dry and Agnieszka couldn’t help but sigh happily. A bird cried and sharply they both pulled away, breathing heavily.

There was a high colour on Kasia’s cheeks. She got up and briskly straightened her dress, leaves falling away and the neat creases staying in place like they never did with Agnieszka.

“I don’t want to be with any of the village boys,” Kasia said in a rush. Agnieszka shook her head, agreeing. “But I’ll be going soon. Mother said I shouldn’t have any sweethearts,” she said, frowning. “I’ll miss you,” she said then she dashed away, her golden hair a pennant in the wind.

Agnieszka lay down, pressing her hands against her hot cheeks. It didn’t matter, she thought. Nothing she did was going to stop the Dragon from taking Kasia and then she wouldn’t see her for ten years.

She cried then.

**Author's Note:**

> At first, this was going to be a tad more mature... but I restrained myself. Perhaps another time!
> 
> And yay! I hope to see more Uprooted on AO3 :)


End file.
